Chats, Thrushes, Blackbirds

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Other Names

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It is a robin-sized bird at 15-17.5 cm in length. It has a streaked brown back, somewhat resembling a house sparrow, but adults have a grey head and red-brown spotting on the underparts. It has an insectivore's fine pointed bill.

Sexes are similar, although the male may be contrasted in appearance. Young birds have browner heads and underparts.

It is found throughout the mountains of southern temperate Europe, Lebanon and Asia at heights above 2000 m. It is mainly resident, wintering more widely at lower latitudes, but some birds wander as rare vagrants as far as Great Britain.

The American Robin is a migratory songbird of the Thrush family. It is named after the European Robin because of its reddish-orange breast, though the two species are not closely related, with the European Robin belonging to the flycatcher family.

The American Robin is widely distributed throughout North America, wintering south of Canada from Florida to central Mexico and along the Pacific Coast. It is the state bird of Connecticut, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

The American Robin is active mostly during the day and assembles in large flocks at night. Its diet consists of invertebrates such as beetle grubs and caterpillars, fruits and berries. It is one of the earliest bird species to lay eggs, beginning to breed shortly after returning to its summer range from its winter range. Its nest consists of long coarse grass, twigs, paper, and feathers, and is smeared with mud and often cushioned with grass or other soft materials. It is among the first birds to sing at dawn, and its song consists of several discrete units that are repeated.

The adult robin is preyed upon by hawks, cats and larger snakes, but when feeding in flocks, it is able to be vigilant and watch other birds for reactions to predators. Brown-headed Cowbirds lay eggs in robin nests, but robins usually reject the cowbird eggs.

The Black Redstart is a small passerine bird. It is 15 cm in length and 20 gm in weight, similar to the Common Redstart. The adult male is overall dark grey to black on the upperparts and with a black breast; the lower rump and tail are orange-red, with the two central tail feathers dark red-brown. The belly and undertail are either blackish-grey OR orange-red; the wings are blackish-grey with pale fringes on the secondaries forming a whitish panel OR all blackish. The female is grey to grey-brown overall except for the orange-red lower rump and tail, greyer than the Common Redstart; at any age the grey axillaries and underwing coverts are also distinctive.

One-year old males are similar to females but blacker; the whitish wing panel of the western subspecies does not develop until the second year.

The Blue Rock Thrush is a species of chat. This species breeds in southern Europe and northwest Africa, and from central Asia to northern China and Malaysia.

The European, north African and southeast Asian birds are mainly resident, apart from altitudinal movements. Other Asian populations are more migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa, India and southeast Asia. This bird is a very uncommon visitor to northern and western Europe.

Blue Rock Thrush breeds in open mountainous areas, usually higher than the breeding zone of the related Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush. It nests in rock cavities and walls, and usually lays 3-5 eggs. An omnivore, the Blue Rock Thrush eats a wide variety of insects and small reptiles in addition to berries and seeds.

This is a starling-sized bird, 25 cm in length with a long slim bill. The summer male is unmistakable, with all blue-grey plumage apart from its darker wings. Females and immatures are much less striking, with dark brown upperparts, and paler brown scaly underparts. Both male and female lack the reddish outer tail feathers of Rock Thrush.

This whistling thrush found along the Himalayas in the Indian subcontinent and extending into Southeast Asia. It is known for its loud human-like whistling song at dawn and dusk. It feeds on the ground, often along streams and in damp places foraging for snails, crabs, fruits and insects.

The male has a blue head, chin and throat. The upper parts are blue and black. The rump and underparts are chestnut brown. There is a white patch on the wing that is visible during flight. The female bird is brown with a brown and white underside.

Like thrushes, they fly up into trees and sit motionless when they are disturbed.

It is a summer visitor in parts of Afghanistan and along the Himalayas from Pakistan to Arunachal Pradesh. In summer it is found in pine forests and hill slopes. In winter it is found in dense canopied forests.

It is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in wet birch wood or bushy swamp in Europe and Asia with a foothold in western Alaska. It nests in tussocks or low in dense bushes. It winters in north Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

The bluethroat is similar in size to the European robin at 13–14 cm. It is plain brown above except for the distinctive black tail with red side patches. It has a strong white supercilium. The male has an iridescent blue bib edged below with successive black, white and rust coloured borders.

Females of all races usually have just a blackish crescent on an otherwise cream throat and breast. Newly fledged juveniles are freckled and spotted dark brown above.

The Boat-tailed Grackle is a passerine bird found as a permanent resident on the coasts of the southeastern US. It is found in coastal saltwater marshes, and, in Florida, also on inland waters. The nest is a well-concealed cup in trees or shrubs near water; three to five eggs are laid.

It is 42 cm long. Adult males have entirely iridescent black plumage, a long dark bill, a pale yellowish or brown iris and a long keel-shaped tail. The female is shorter tailed and tawny-brown in colour apart from the darker wings and tail.

Young males are black but lack the adult's iridescence. Immature females are duller versions of the adult female and have blotches or spots on the breast.

These birds forage on the ground, in shallow water, or in shrubs; they will steal food from other birds. They are omnivorous, eating insects, minnows, frogs, eggs, berries, seeds, and grain, even small birds. Boat-tailed Grackles have established significant populations in several United States Gulf Coast cities and towns where they can be found foraging in trash bins, dumpsters, and parking lots.

The Brown-headed Cowbird is a small brood parasitic bird of temperate to subtropical North America. They are permanent residents in the southern parts of their range; northern birds migrate to the southern United States and Mexico in winter, returning to their summer habitat about March OR April.

Adults have a short finch-like bill and dark eyes. The adult male is mainly iridescent black with a brown head. The adult female is grey with a pale throat and fine streaking on the underparts.

They occur in open or semi-open country and often travel in flocks, sometimes mixed with Red-winged Blackbirds and Bobolinks, as well as Common Grackle or European Starlings. These birds forage on the ground, often following grazing animals such as horses and cows to catch insects stirred up by the larger animals. They mainly eat seeds and insects.

This bird is a brood parasite. It lays its eggs in the nests of other small passerines, particularly those that build cup-like nests. The young cowbird is fed by the host parents at the expense of their own young. Brown-headed Cowbird females can lay 36 eggs in a season.

Host parents may sometimes easily notice the cowbird egg, to which different host species react in different ways. The House Finch feeds its young a vegetarian diet, which is unsuitable for young Brown-headed Cowbirds. Although the Brown-headed Cowbird eggs laid in a House Finch nest will hatch, almost none survive to fledge.

Brown-headed Cowbirds periodically check on their eggs and young after they have deposited them. Removal of the parasitic egg may trigger a retaliatory reaction. Cowbird destroyes the hosts nests if cowbird eggs are rejected which force the hosts to build new ones.

It is found in the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, eastwards towards parts of Southeast Asia. Its range includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Tibet, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. The male fits the description of the nominate species, but the female does not have a chestnut belly or the bright blue primary feathers of the male.

The Common Grackle has a long dark bill, pale yellowish eyes and a long tail. Its feathers appear black with purple, green or blue iridescence on the head, and primarily bronze shine in the body plumage. The adult female is smaller and usually less iridescent; her tail in particular is shorter, and unlike the males, does not keel in flight and is brown with no purple or blue gloss. The juvenile is brown with dark brown eyes.

The common grackle forages on the ground, in shallow water or in shrubs; it will steal food from other birds. It is omnivorous, eating insects, minnows, frogs, eggs, berries, seeds, grain and even small birds and mice. Grackles at outdoors eating areas often wait eagerly until someone drops some food. They will rush forward and try to grab it, often snatching food out of the beak of another bird. Grackles prefer to eat from the ground at birdfeeders, making scattered seed an excellent choice of food for them. In shopping centers, grackles can be regularly seen foraging for bugs, especially after a lawn trimming.

Along with some other species of grackles, the common grackle is known to practice anting i.e. rubbing insects on its feathers to apply liquids such as formic acid secreted by the insects.

In the breeding season, males tip their heads back and fluff up feathers to display and keep other males away. This same behavior is used as a defensive posture to attempt to intimidate predators. Male common grackles are less aggressive toward one another, and more cooperative and social, than the larger Boat-tailed Grackle species.

The Common Stonechat resembles its closest living relative the European Stonechat, but is typically darker above and paler below, with a white rump and whiter underparts with less orange on the breast.

The desert wheatear is a migratory insectivorous species, 6 inches in length. Both western and eastern forms of the desert wheatear are rare vagrants to western Europe. The western desert wheatear breeds in the Sahara and the northern Arabian peninsula. The eastern race is found in the semi-deserts of central Asia and in winter in Pakistan and northeast Africa.

The plumage of the upper parts of the male in summer is buff. The underparts are white with a buff tinge on the breast. The black on the face and throat extends to the shoulders, and there is distinct white superciliary stripe. The female is greyer above and buffer below and has no black on the throat, and in the winter plumage the black on the throat of the male is partially obscured by the white tips of the feathers. A distinguishing characteristic, in both sexes of all ages, is that the entire tail is black to the level of the upper tail-coverts.

The Eastern Bluebird is a small thrush found in open woodlands, farmlands and orchards. This species measures 22cm long and weigh 32gm.

Adult males are bright blue on top and have a reddish brown throat and breast. Adult females have lighter blue wings and tail, a brownish throat and breast and a grey crown and back. Eastern Bluebirds are found east of the Rockies, southern Canada to the Gulf States and southeastern Arizona to Nicaragua.

The Common Blackbird is a species of Thrush family. It breeds in Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It has a number of subspecies across its large range; a few of the Asian subspecies are sometimes considered to be full species. Depending on latitude, the Common Blackbird may be resident, partially migratory or fully migratory.

The male of the nominate subspecies is all black except for a yellow eye-ring and bill and has a rich melodious song; the adult female and juvenile have mainly dark brown plumage. This species breeds in woods and gardens, building a neat, mud-lined, cup-shaped nest. It is omnivorous, eating a wide range of insects, earthworms, berries, and fruits.

Both male and female are territorial on the breeding grounds, with distinctive threat displays, but are more gregarious during migration and in wintering areas. Pairs will stay in their territory throughout the year where the climate is sufficiently temperate.

It is found in the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, stretching all the way to the nearer parts of Southeast Asia, including in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Tibet and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

It is found in along the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, primarily in the Eastern Himalayas, and ranges across Bhutan, India, Tibet, and Nepal. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

The Indian Blackbird is a species of Thrush family. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the Common Blackbird. It is found in India and Sri Lanka.

The male has brownish slate-grey upperparts, with darker brown to blackish crown and ear coverts. Underparts are paler brownish-grey. They have distinct eye-ring and patch of orange post-orbital skin, and orange lets & feet. Females are more uniform brown with paler underparts. This species breeds in woods and gardens, building a neat, mud-lined, cup-shaped nest. It is omnivorous, eating a wide range of insects, earthworms, berries, and fruits.

The Indian Blackbird has a loud melodious song resembling that of Oriental Magpie Robin.

The Indian Robin is widespread in South Asia found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The males of northern populations have a brown back whose extent gradually reduces southwards with populations in the southern peninsula having an all black back. They are commonly found in open scrub areas and often seen running along the ground or perching on low thorny shrubs and rocks. Their long tails are held erect and their chestnut undertail covert and dark body make them easily distinguishable from the Pied Bushchat and the Oriental Magpie Robin.

The Indian Robin is dimorphic in plumage with the main being mainly black with a white shoulder patch or stripe whose visible extent can vary with posture. The northern populations have the upper plumage brownish while the southern populations are black above. The males have chestnut undertail coverts and these are visible as the bird usually holds the 10 cm long tail raised upright. The females are brownish above, have no white shoulder stripe and are greyish below with the vent a paler shade of chestnut than the males. Birds of the northern populations are larger than those from southern India or Sri Lanka. Juvenile birds are much like females but the throat is mottled.

The Malabar Whistling Thrush is a whistling thrush in the thrush family. The species is a resident in the Western Ghats and associated hills of peninsular India including central India and parts of the Eastern Ghats.

This large thrush appears blackish with shiny patches of blue on the forehead and shoulders. The blue becomes visible only in oblique lighting. The bill and legs are black. The male and female are indistinguishable and juveniles are more brownish and lack the blue forehead.

The species is found all along the Western Ghats south of the Surat Dangs. They are also found along the Satpura range to northwestern Orissa. Also locally in the Eastern Ghats. Populations are not migratory but have been known to disperse widely in winter.

Malabar Whisting Thrushes are usually found in dark undergrowth and dense riverine forest. It is omnivorous, eating a wide range of insects, crabs, frogs, earthworms and berries. They are usually seen singly or in pairs.

The male sings its varied and melodious whistling song from trees during summer. They may song for long early at dawn but at other times of the day they often utter sharp single or two note whistles. They were once popular as cage birds, with the ability to learn entire tunes. They bathe frequently in water usually in the mornings and evenings but at midday during hot weather.

The Orange-headed Thrush is common in well-wooded areas of India, China and southeast Asia. Most populations are resident. The species shows a preference for shady damp areas, and like many Zoothera thrushes, can be quite secretive.

The Orange-headed Thrush is omnivorous, eating a wide range of insects, earthworms and fruit. It nests in trees but does not form flocks. The male of this small thrush has uniform grey upperparts, and an orange head and underparts. The females and young birds have browner upper parts.

The Oriental Magpie Robin is a small passerine bird. They are distinctive black and white birds with a long tail that is held upright as they forage on the ground or perch conspicuously. Distributed in many parts of tropical South and Southeast Asia, they are common birds in urban gardens as well as forests. They are particularly well known for their songs and were once popular as cagebirds.

This species is 20 cm long, including the long tail that is usually held cocked upright. It is similar in shape to the smaller European Robin, but is longer-tailed. The male has black upperparts, head and throat apart from a white shoulder patch. The underparts and the sides of the long tail are white. Females are greyish black above and greyish white. Young birds have scaly brown upperparts and head.

It is mostly seen close to the ground, hopping along branches or foraging in leaf-litter on the ground with cocked tail. Males sing loudly from the top of trees or other perch during the breeding season.

Magpie Robins breed mainly from March to July in India and January to June in Southeast Asia. The display of the male involves puffing up the feathers, raising the bill, fanning the tail and strutting. They nest in tree hollows or niches in walls or building. The female is involved in most of the nest building that happens about a week before the eggs are laid. Four or five eggs are laid in intervals of 24 hours and these are oval and usually pale blue green with brownish speckles. The eggs are incubated by the female alone for 15 days. The nests have a characteristic odour.

Females spend more effort on feeding the young than males. Males are quite aggressive in the breeding season and will defend their territory and respond to the singing of intruders and even their reflections. Males spend more time on nest defense. Studies of the bird song show dialects with neighbours varying in their songs. The calls of many other species may be imitated as part of their song. This may indicate that birds disperse and are not philopatric. They appear to use elements of the calls of other birds in their own songs. Females may sing briefly in the presence of male. Apart from their song, they use a range of calls including territorial calls, emergence and roosting calls, threat calls, submissive calls, begging calls and distress calls. The typical mobbing calls is a harsh hissing KRSHHH.

The food of Magpie Robins is mainly insects and other invertebrates. They are known to occasionally take lizards, leeches, centipedes and even fish. They are often active late at dusk. They sometimes bathe in rainwater collected on the leaves of a tree.

The Pied Bushchat is a small passerine bird found ranging from West and Central Asia to South and Southeast Asia. About sixteen subspecies are recognized through its wide range with many island forms. It is a familiar bird of countryside and open scrub or grassland where it is found perched at the top of short thorn trees or other shrubs, looking out for insect prey. They pick up insects mainly from the ground, and were, like other chats, placed in the thrush family.

They nest in cavities in stone walls or in holes in an embankment, lining the nest with grass and animal hair. The males are black with white shoulder and vent patches whose extent varies among populations. Females are predominantly brownish while juveniles are speckled.

The Pied Bushchat is slightly smaller than the Siberian Stonechat; although it has a similar dumpy structure and upright stance. The male is black except for a white rump, wing patch and lower belly. The iris is dark brown, the bill and legs black. The female is drab brown and slightly streaked. Juveniles have a scaly appearance on the underside but dark above like the females.

It is native to the Indian subcontinent. It is about six inches in length, generally olive green, and has a yellow throat with orange shading on the breast. It also has a dull yellowish ring around the eye that extends to the beak. The edges of the wing feathers are brightly colored with yellow, orange, red and black and the forked tail is olive brown and blackish at the tip. The cheeks and side of the neck are a bluish gray color. The female is a lot paler than the male and lacks the red patch on the wings. It doesn't fly frequently, except in open habitats. This bird is very active and an excellent singer but very secretive and difficult to see.

It is a bird of the hill forests, found in every type of jungle though it prefers pine forests with bushes. It has also been found at elevations ranging from near sea level to about 7,500 feet.

This bird feeds on animal matter. It eats fruits such as strawberries, ripened papaya, guavas and also various species of Diptera, Mollusca, Lepidoptera, and Hymenoptera. Its food is usually gathered from foliage and dead wood and it usually searches for food in lower strata of vegetation.

The Red-winged Blackbird is a passerine bird found in most of North and much of Central America. It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and Guatemala, with isolated populations in western El Salvador, northwestern Honduras, and northwestern Costa Rica. It may winter as far north as Pennsylvania and British Columbia, but northern populations are generally migratory, moving south to Mexico and the southern United States.

The male is all black with a red shoulder and yellow wing bar, while the female is a nondescript dark brown. Seeds and insects make up the bulk of the Red-winged Blackbird's diet.

The common name for the Red-winged Blackbird is taken from the mainly black adult male's distinctive red shoulder patches which are visible when the bird is flying or displaying. At rest, the male also shows a pale yellow wingbar. The female is blackish-brown and paler below. It is 25 cm in length and weighing 64 gm.

Young birds resemble the female, but are paler below and have buff feather fringes. Both male and female have a sharply pointed bill. The tail is of medium length and is rounded. The eyes, bill, and feet are all black.

It is found in the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, ranging across India, Nepal and Bhutan. Its natural habitat is the temperate forests of the Lower to Middle Himalayas. The species has an unmistakable appearance with its rufous-dominated colouration and black head, and is often seen with its crest raised. It is a vigorous, melodious singer. It feeds on berries and insects.

It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

Males have black forehead; crown, rump shoulders and a bright ultramarine blue neck patch. Sides of head and back are dark purplish blue. Except for purplish throat rest of the underparts are rufous-orange. Females are predominantly olive or falvous brown with blue patch on ear.

The Rusty Blackbird is a medium-sized blackbird. It is closely related to Grackles. It was also called as Rusty Grackle in old time.

Adults have a pointed bill and a pale yellow eye. They have black plumage; the female is greyer. Rusty refers to the brownish winter plumage. They resemble the western member of the same genus, the Brewer's Blackbird; however, this bird has a longer bill and the male's head is iridescent green.

Their breeding habitat is wet temperate coniferous forests and muskeg across Canada and Alaska. The cup nest is located in a tree or dense shrub, usually over water. Birds often nest at the edge of ponds/wetland complexes and travel large distances to feed at the waters edge. Emerging dragonflies and their larvae are important food items during the summer.

These birds migrate to the eastern and southeastern United States, into parts of the Grain Belt, sometimes straying into Mexico.

They forage on wet ground or in shallow water, mainly eating insects, small fish and some seeds. Their most common mode of foraging is to vigorously flip leaves and rip at submerged aquatic vegetation. The mast of small-acorn producing oaks, such as Willow Oak, is also important. In some areas, the nuts of planted pecans are heavily used. They very rarely will attack small passerine birds, and have been known to kill species as large as Common Snipe. They feed in flocks during migration and on the wintering grounds, sometimes joining other blackbirds, both often occurring in single species flocks. They more often roost with other blackbirds; some small roosts are in brushy vegetation in old fields and others are in massive mixed flocks; sometimes in the urban areas.

The species nests relatively early for a boreal forest bird. They linger in the boreal zone to complete their molt. Their autumn migration is slow, with birds often remaining in the northern states well into December; spring migration is much more rapid. The largest wintering concentrations are found in the lower Mississippi Valley, with smaller concentrations in the Piedmont and south Atlantic coastal plain.

It is found in the northern temperate regions of the Indian subcontinent and ranges across Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Tibet and Nepal. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

It is common in open forest in the Himalayas, and migrates seasonally into peninsular India.

Males of this small thrush have uniform blue-grey upperparts, and a whitish belly and vent. Adults have yellow beak and legs while it may be darker in juveniles. There is a yellow eye-ring which is thinner and fainter than the Indian black bird which is usually bigger in size. Females and young birds have browner upperparts.

Populations move further south in India in winter. Tickell's thrushes are omnivorous, eating a wide range of insects, earthworms and berries. They nest in bushes or similar. They do not form flocks but loose groups of two to five spread across.

Male with larger white pattern on top of the head and brown red spots under the wings. It is found in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, as well as some adjoining areas. The species ranges across Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tibet and Vietnam. Its natural habitat is temperate forests.

White-rumped Shama are native to South and Southeast Asia. Their popularity as a cage bird has led to many escaped birds establishing themselves. They have been introduced to Taiwan where they are considered an invasive species, eating native insect species and showing aggression towards native bird species.

In Asia, their habitat is dense undergrowth especially in bamboo forests.

The white-rumped shama is shy and somewhat crepuscular but very territorial. The territories include a male and female during the breeding season with the males defending the territory but each sex may have different territories when they are not breeding.